Customise OS with PowerShell script to remove ALL Apps.

Hello mngerhold,

mngerhold said:

I have taken the liberty of extracting your code. Well done for all the effort - new apps will certaianly appear, so the code will inevitably need to be updated. Extra points for a sorted list!

Not a problem, we are all here to help each other!
Yes, the list can be easily updated with newly unneeded Apps that appear in the future. The code can then be run again!

mngerhold said:

I don't understand about the deprovisioned reg keys - this link from MS says a lot about it but leaves me even more in the dark! I seem to have a full (?) list of reg keys, and I didn't create them.

I think the idea is that when a new Update/Rollout is released, because the Registry Keys have been amended [Deprovisioned folder] they will NOT get re-installed!

Quoted from docs.microsoft.com:

When you update a computer running Windows 10, version 1703 or 1709, you might see provisioned apps that you previously removed return post-update. This can happen if the computer was offline when you removed the apps.

AND . . .

When you remove a provisioned app, we create a registry key that tells Windows not to reinstall or update that app the next time Windows is updated. If the computer isn't online when you deprovision the app, then we don't create that registry key.

I think that they are talking about Apps that you un-installed directly in the Apps menu etc.

As I stated in my previous post, the script [Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage] MUST be run ONLINE.

I hope this helps!

Hello mngerhold, I have just re-read the link that you posted. I am confused now as well!

If anybody can enlighten us as to how this should be implemented we would be grateful.

Basically what we are after is . . .

[1] Remove unwanted Apps for EACH user account.
[2] Remove the Apps so they do NOT re-appear at the next Feature Update.

Thanks in advance.

Not sure if this helps you, I run Win10 Pro x64, I use the following command in Powershell (Admin) remove-appxpackage PackageFullname.
This has allowed me to remove all unneeded apps from both Program Files\WindowsApps and Windows\systemApps, they remain uninstalled through feature updates (at least from 18-- to 1909) and through using Windows Store to update remaining apps.
I haven't tried creating a new user to test if the apps are re installed, but they are not physically on my system anymore, even running SFC or DISM to check for issues and health does not return errors or re copy packages back to my system.